An Anniversary, A Story, and A Rude Awakening
by TheRowlingPierceWriter
Summary: The first chapter of...well, the first chapter of more chapters. There we go. Harry and Hermione are married and have kids, but the action isn't nearly over!


"It's funny how people can get so easily pulled into things. People like me. People whose boyfriends just happen to have the brilliant idea of going to a karaoke bar so they can humiliate the heck out of themselves. It is a tangled life I lead…So here he goes and says 'Hermione, let's go to a karaoke bar! We haven't been out for so long!' And of course I can't resist him. What female on this Earth can, I'd like to know. She'd have to teach me. 

That's how I came to be here. It's a little bar that smells of smoke and is crammed with lumpy couches and heavy wooden tables. Ron, Harry, Lavender and I sit around one of these mammoths, watching and laughing as other bar-goers try their hand at karaoke. Harry drapes an arm over my shoulder, as though it can make me feel better about publicly embarrassing myself. Well, I haven't as of now, but I will soon. 

The last singer left the mike, and while it was deserted, an ecstatic Harry dashed up to it, nearly dragging me along with him. He whispered fervently to the man controlling the lyrics, which scrolled across a TV for the singer to see. I could see some cockeyed plan of his cooking up. 

"Whatever it is that you're doing, Harry, it better be good." I mumbled to myself, watching as my beau took a place in front of the microphone. 

"I would like to dedicate this song to my fiancée, Hermione." Harry told everyone, amidst cheers, hoots, and gales of laughter. I turned bright red. What did he think he was doing up there? Already I had a headache. Wait. He had said 'my fiancée Hermione.' That might not seem like a big thing to you, but it's kind of hard to be someone's fiancée when they haven't even popped the question. I felt my eyes widen. He-he just proposed, in his own twisted Harry way. His voice began to sing a tune, one that might not have entered my life had he not convinced me to come here. And now I'm glad he did.

__

How sweet it is to be loved by you

How sweet it is to be loved by you

I needed the shelter of someone's arms

There you were

I needed someone to understand my ups and downs

There you were

With sweet love and devotion

Deeply touching my emotion

I want to stop and thank you baby

I just want to stop and thank you baby

How sweet it is to be loved by you

How sweet it is to be loved by you

I close my eyes at night

Wondering where would I be without you in my life

Everything I did was just a bore

Everywhere I went it seems I'd been there before

But you brighten up for me all of my days

With a love so sweet in so many ways

I want to stop and thank you baby

I just want to stop and thank you baby

How sweet it is to be loved by you

How sweet it is to be loved by you

You were better for me than I was for myself

For me, there's you and there ain't nobody else

I want to stop and thank you baby

I just want to stop and thank you baby

How sweet it is to be loved by you

How sweet it is to be loved by you

As he finished the song, he walked right up to our table-to me-and kneeled. I rolled my eyes in protest, but I was secretly thrilled. 

"Hermione, I love you more than life itself. I feel like I'm not good enough to have you, even though I do. I can't remember ever being mad at you, or not cherishing every second I spent with you. You're my everything, you're what I want, you're beautiful. The sun is nowhere near as brilliant as you are to me, Hermione. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and grow old with you. Grant me the one thing I don't have, and be my wife."

I threw my arms around him, enthralled. The bar erupted with applause. I felt the exact same way about him as he had described about me, which heightened my euphoria. Everything became a blur that moment. People, places, time. I was in a whirlwind of colors and I never wanted it to end. 

"Is that a yes?" Harry playfully asked when he let go of me. I swatted him on the shoulder.

"No, it's a no." I said, sarcasm dripping from my voice. To prove my point I kissed him, right there, in the middle of everyone, and I didn't even blush."

"Tell it again Mama, tell it again!" Ginny Potter pleaded with her mother. 

"Please, Mom, please?" Her twin sister Lily gave her mother a puppy-dog look. 

"It's time for bed, girls." Hermione told them as gently as possibly. "Uncle Ron and Aunt Lavender's anniversary tomorrow, remember?" 

"I don't like James." Pouted Ginny. "He put a frog in my shoe!" 

Lily giggled. 

"I'll make sure he doesn't put frogs in your shoes this time, Gin. And anyway, Cousin James likes you." Hermione said.

"Why do we have to call him that? Uncle Ron and Aunt Lavender aren't really our Aunt and Uncle so James shouldn't be our cousin." Lily frowned.

"That, my dears, is another bedtime story." Hermione Potter, thirty-seven, tousled her daughter's hair. "Now, off you go. Dad will be home soon, and he'll expect you to be asleep." 

"Daddy, daddy!" The two soon-to-be-eleven-year-olds chanted together. Hermione couldn't help but smile.

"Just get into bed and maybe if you're awake you'll see him when he gets here." She shooed them off, sitting down at the kitchen table to wait for her husband. It wasn't long before Harry Potter opened the door, holding a thick paper bag. 

"Honey, I'm home." He quipped, when he saw Hermione. 

"Your Desi impersonation is as bad as your knock-knocks, Harry." She said, standing up.

"You don't like my knock-knock jokes?" He asked her in a hurt voice, with mock indignation.

"Nope." She affirmed, hugging him tightly. It was difficult due to the bag Harry was holding, and he sat it gingerly on the floor. 

"Is that-?" She gestured to it. 

"Yes," He agreed, nodding. He bent down and placed it on the table. He was about to open it when the sound of little feet padded into the room. 

"Daddy, Daddy!" The twins chorused again.

"Ginny, Lily! Where have you been all of my life?" He scooped them both up, holding one in each arm. 

"Do we really have to see James tomorrow, Daddy?" Ginny lay her head on his shoulder.

"Yes, and Harry and Hermione too." Hermione answered for him, referring to Ron and Lavender's sons and daughter.

"Speaking of which," Harry looked at his wife, "where are Ron, Sirius, and Remus?" Their three sons, fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen often went out late.

"At Ron's, as a matter of fact. They're spending the night. We're meeting them there at the party." Hermione informed him

"Though why you would want to spend more time with James than necessary I'll never know." Lily, ever precocious, wrinkled her nose.

Harry kissed Ginny and Lily on the tip of their noses, and put them down, hustling them to bed. He faced Hermione and kissed her lightly. 

"Get up early in the morning, my Hermione. Ron's anniversary."

Hermione flounced off, saying, "I know. My Harry." 


End file.
